Content

This unit aims to enable students to develop an understanding and critical appreciation of the theory and practice of community development. Students will understand the key themes, concepts, principles and theoretical foundations of community development and be able to identify and analyse practice issues in community development.

Students explore the principles and theories informing community development. They investigate the forms of community development and some of the processes operating in community organisations. Community development and practice is placed in the context of wider theoretical issues. Debates about the nature of contemporary society, including the role of the state and the welfare state, the market and civil society, and modernity and postmodernity, sets the framework for analysis of the tensions in community development. Positions and arguments are discussed in relation to concrete examples and case studies in community development.